The Lake Isle of Ballycomey

I will arise and go now, and go to Ballycomey

And a big pitch build there, of soil and grass made;
a hurl and slitor will I have there, a goal for shooting,
And live alone in the dressing rooms.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from comer to where the pitch ends;
There the pitch all a glimmer, and the posts a silver shine,
And evening full of the migets.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear the boys pucking with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the pitch, or on the dressing rooms rubber,
I hear it in the crowds roar.

Cathal Holland

The Oak Tree

The oak tree, so big and scary,

standing there in all its strength and glory,

Its leaves and beauty,

an icon in the world of nature,

It rises above buildings, and people, and houses,

But then, as it’s in its Height  of glory,

It begins to change,

it turns from its amazing green to a golden brown,

One leaf falls from its mighty branches,

Then another, and another,

Then it begins to seem smaller,

You begin to see beneath its strong outward appearance,

We see what it truly is,

A vulnerable, open beast,

Open, bare, naked,

But then, just as it’s in its lowest state,

New hope,

A bud,

Small, but promising,

It grows, more hope, more promise,

It’s not alone, another bud appears, and another, and another,

The branches don’t seem so bare anymore, not as vulnerable as it was,

It’s growing again, it’s nearly back to what it was,

Big, strong, powerful, glorious,

The Oak Tree, back as it once was,

Showing us all that change can be for the better,

That just when things seem to be lost of all hope,

New hope WILL come, new promises WILL deliver,

Don’t give up on yourself, The Oak Tree didn’t.

Grant Baker and Frank Gunner

The Underdogs

It all came down to the big day

We didn’t stand a chance was all they would say

But with our fight and determination

We could slay the giant as a nation

As the game kicked off

We took a big huff

We took in all the elements

But there was no time for sentiment

One by one we took them down

Until we finally claimed our crown

Champions of the world and proud

Nobody could touch us now.

                  By Jason Comerford

Stereotypes.

Our parents grew up without mobile phones.

We have them now and because of this

We have a stereotype.

Parents constantly complain about mobile phones.

They try to teach us that they are a bad thing.

That they are evil.

But what if they aren’t evil?

What if they are an escape?

Teenagers are meant to be young adults

But they are treated far from it.

Most adults when they think of teenagers

They think of mood swings

Drugs, Sex and Alcohol.

Not all teens are evil.

But what if they aren’t evil?

What if they are an escape?

Adults are allowed date whoever they want.

Why can’t we be the same?

Some teenagers live in fear of their parents

Seeing their partner.

They see their partner as evil.

But what if they aren’t evil?

What if they are an escape?

Adults need to talk to teenagers.

Instead of having all these escapes

As escapes.

They need to help them.

Laura Mullally

Animal cruelty

Every day on the TV there is an ad about animals,

Mostly all of them has a story,

But their not good stories,

They all have a story about their past,

Which is not a good  past,

They all have been hurt in some kind of way,

Some were hit,

Some were starved,

And some have been left in the freezing cold to die,

But there is always hope,

Some get away from the abuse,

Some live happy lives after their horrible past,

But some stay with it forever.

Leah Brennan

Roses are Red,

violets are Blue

People don’t realise that words can hurt you,

They abuse me, they overload me with names,

Nobody knows it but im filled with Pain.

Nathan Conroy

My love for music goes very far

Although I tried and failed at guitar

I could listen to it all day long

But please don’t ask me to sing a song

My music background is quiet bland

Even though I’m in TY band

My taste in music isn’t so bad

Although some people think I’m mad.

Aideen Brennan

Teenagers these days

are under so much pressure

Many turn to alcohol as a refresher

Boys are aggressive

Girls are depressive

Everyone is so quick to judge

Like what are you wearing? What is she doing?

All anyone ever does is prejudge or misjudge

Everyone swearing, everyone viewing

Boys want to be built, to impress society

Girls want to be skinny, most have anxiety

Everyone’s tryna be someone else

Forget all that just be yourself

Aoife Lazenby

Kilkenny Limerick

There once was a man called Lenny,

He hadn’t as much as a penny,

He went to the bookies,

He thought he’d get lucky,

Now he sleeps on the streets of Kilkenny.

-Ciarán Farnan, and Róisín Allen

Ganja man manifesto

Woke up one morning and the ganj was grown

I picked those buds and my mind was blown

Went to school that morning my mom gave me a warning

She said to stay out of trouble so I went to shave my stubble

Teachers giving me crazy looks , I mitched the last three

I met the boys down town to fly high

And then I asked myself, Why?

It was a waste of time,

I decided to make a rapid climb

I needed to quit, so I could stay fit and pursue my career

I had enough of the beer… my time was near

My ganja man manifesto was giving me the fear later paranoia and later depression

The ganja man went to church to make a confession

Two years late I’ve made it to the top

Always keep going never gonna stop.

Daniel Brophy

Whelp to help

Going on a night out with great expectations,

All ready to turn over a new leaf.

Until reality slaps you across the face!

Your friends go astray, and leave you alone to play.

Play with what since you’r by yourself,

What your heart tells you not to do, you just grab it off the shelf,

With no care in the world.

Nobody has a rare care, as you curl yourself to sleep, with tears curling down your face.

I decide to take a mysterious treck, alone of course.

As the wind slaps the drink out of your hand

As you think your grand.

You slowly open your eyes as the morning sunshine glares towards you,

Sense is crawling as the state the was left, as I rolled onto my chest

Help is the key, I want to be the old me.

Catriona Murtagh (15)

ADHD

puddin’ has adhd,

he writes on  his hands ,

he plays games,

he cannot sit still for too long

he has a five second attention span,

he wears a Tommy Hilfiger t-shirt too school,

He is a lovely boy.

Anonymous

The mean boys

When I was young I was not treated well.

people did not like me to be around me

they said I was mean nobody liked me but yet

I proved them wrong  when I said that’s  mean she said

It doesn’t  matter im cool your not I said its ok not to be cool

Because when you have real friends it doesn’t  matter

Some day you will understand.

James O’Brien

Inside Out

From inside we look out

To a world we want to see

To a world filled with hope

To a world filled with hate

From outside we look in

Your eyes are the windows

It’s a happy place to see

It’s a world where we’d like to be

But in the end its all inside out.

Ciara Nolan

Not another year

Another year goes by,

Same concrete school,

Same concrete sky,

You get a year older,

But not much bolder,

Another year goes by.

Emma Kelly

Passion

Sport is everything I have

And I live to play and have a rave

All you need is determination

And a good imagination

I cant sing or dance

But I can take a chance

Ì train hard and take the pain

But its all worth it when I gain success

Have a good time and do your best

                Danielle Morrissey and Molly Boland

Aspirations

What do you want? A question they ask.

Racking your brains, impossible task.

Do I know what it is, that I desire?

It comes, late at night, a vision of fire.

I stand brilliant, above them all,

But it is so hard, and I fear that I’ll fall.

And myths and dreams in a carousel ride,

Mix in mind as I try to decide.

To what do I aspire?

Jeremiah Burke

Music is my life

It’s a new way of life
It lifts me up to a high
I can reach as high as the sky

From the hard long days
Not one is wasted away
When your doing what your love
You may be misunderstood

From the mumering beats of the bodhran
And the screech of the fiddle
If your doing what you love
You should never be miss understood.

Eimear Barrett

Afraid

Everyday I wake up afraid

Afraid of what people think of me

Afraid of being alone

Afraid of having no friends

Everything that could possibly go wrong runs through my head

Filled with a constant worry

Afraid of death

Afraid of life

But I put a brave face on

And ignore the constant pain of being afraid

And pretend to enjoy life

And not be afraid

                                                     Laura van Rijswijk

Adults Thoughts Upon Teens 

I live in a place where adults think teenagers know nothing,

They think were stupid and never work for anything,

They think were brain dead social media wasters who sit around all day,

We are seen as angry little ungrateful teens but really we are just sick of been looked down upon…,

They think we have no dreams or targets and that we only think about posting on screens.

Dean Farrell

I felt lost

I was confused I wrote pictures in my books of sad images and thoughts; I knew the chemical configuration for sadness off by heart.

I was happy and sad all at the same time. It happened every day, they acted like they knew us and what was going through our heads, and we were “sluts” and “whores”

We didn’t understand why they had a problem, how did what we do with our lives effect them? it didn’t.

People know that the things you say to people can destroy them, people aren’t stupid but yet they still do this? For their own entertainment ?  it provoked anxiety.

Everybody has their own problems and shit going on in their lives and so why would you add to their problems? I’m writing this non-rhyme to let people know that the mean things you say to people have consequences even if you justify it to yourself by saying its  “just a joke with the lads ”

But shit gets better and life is good now and in the end it made us stronger.

Anonymous

Hidden Face

She had long black hair that hid her face

Always wore a smile, cheerful was her style

From the outside she looked average,

Life’s not what she thought she wish someone had told her

She kept it on the inside, never failing to smile or laugh at the right time

Never missing the joke or failing to hide her wrists

She was outgoing, she was.

The pills weren’t kicking in, she still had to draw pictures on her body to distract herself from using her blade

Washed it down the toilet, no more cuts she’s coming clean she’s screaming I’m free!

School the next day is like the rest, sit alone in the canteen, anyone notices she will blame the cat

2 more hours, she thinks, while drawing a flower on her thigh

2 more hours till she can go home and tell her mother she’s fine and lock herself in her room

Depression- what a horrible word, A label

“depressed” “lonely” “a waste of a life”

She knew it was enough, she had taken too much

Stood up on the and looked up at the stars, itll be over, 10 more seconds.

Tie it around my neck, almost there

This has to be the answer this has to be the end .

Eliza Appezzato

Don’t be afraid of others,

They are only being suckers,

Be yourself no matter what,

And if they don’t like it they can go rot,

Confidence means not caring about other opinions,

To be able to be yourself means millions,

So take it from me don’t act different,

Because from yourself your only being distant.

Aoife Dowling

Life of a Sports player

She loves the sport vibe

Without it she wouldn’t survive

She’s done it since she was young

Full of life her career had just begun

She plays with passion and skill

She gets such a thrill

She wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Naimh Balkin & Roisin Ryan

The Blame Game

When adults look back and think of the problems in their teenage life

The problems they faced, peer pressure, bullying, strife

They tend to always say “Why me”

Why did I receive the bulk of this teenage brutality

But instead of looking in. they look around

And feel like they lived in their own personal bully breeding ground

They start to play a very dangerous game

A game that goes by the name of blame

People like to say it wasn’t there fault

If there friends and social life came to a halt

So maybe instead of being quiet and wondering why people didn’t care

You should have improved your personality, put yourself out there

So instead of people always looking to play the victim

Im going to voice an opinion, an unpopular dictum

Teenagers these day have enough problems of their own

So don’t make yourself isolated and alone

Self improvement should be the over-arching youth movement

Because no one wants to talk to the depressed anti social student.

Latvian Moose

Insecurity

To all the girls who feel insecure

Watching their friends get with the top lads

While you’re there wondering why that’s not you

Thinking quietly to yourself about all your ‘flaws’

Because you don’t see that you’re perfect

You don’t need a lad to tell you what you should already know

You could be looking at the most beautiful, confident girl who walks around that school with her head held high

But the most confident girl can be the loneliest

The most confident girl can cry herself to sleep every night

Because no one knows what goes on underneath the makeup and underneath that fake smile

So the next time you’re looking at your friend thinking “Why is that not me?”

Think to yourself “That could be me!” and never give up

Because once you gain that confidence and put on that show

You can be that girl too

Emma Dowling Taylor

People say love

Comes and goes, but
They don’t understand
What they don’t know.
Cause, what I feel starts
Deep inside
It’s planted like a seed
That springs into life.

They say it’s not right
And we move too fast.
But they don’t know the meaning
Of what we have.

Wherever it is, I’ll fly
Whatever it takes, I’ll try
So don’t pay no mind
To what other people say.
Whenever it is in my life
Know that I will be on time
‘Cause you know why
There’s no standing in our way.

When you’re far and
We’re apart.
I’m really missing you
I wanna be where you are.

They say it’s not right
And it won’t last.
No point in believing
What we have.

Adam Lawlor

I have no clue what to say

I try to make it through one day

Work hard, try your best,

Not a single nights rest

Everyone’s expectations of me can’t be met

It’s those seeds of doubt we grow to regret

                                                              -Cathal Curry